On Thursday, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia addressed the Serbian people on the occasion of 24 March, the anniversary of the NATO bombing of Serbia. In his utterance, the Crown Prince came with his thoughts to those affected by the bombing and criticised NATO’s operations during the war in the Balkans.

Crown Prince Alexander’s statement:

“Saturday, March 24, marks 19 years since the aggression against our country and our people. Many years passed, but more victims are being remembered! The aggression that Europe only remembers from the time of World War II. I hope that such aggression will never happen again and that our country will focus all its resources to develop a strong and stable democracy, economy, respect of all citizens regardless of their religious or ethnic origin. Lives that were lost, as well as many injured people, they must never be forgotten. Let them remain in our hearts forever.”

Crown Prince Alexander talked about this subject when he was interviewed by Royal Central last summer. Read the whole interview with the Serbian Crown Prince here. In connection with talking about his involvement in the establishment of democracy in Serbia, the Crown Prince said: “So I met the democratic opposition, and I became friends with who became the future prime minister, Mr Zoran Đinđić. And then I implemented, after the bombing here, which was criminal, I implemented meetings, conferences in Budapest, in Bosnia, Athens, and the last one was organised by Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.”

The NATO bombing of Serbia and Yugoslavia was a military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. NATO launched this campaign without UN authorisation, which it described as a humanitarian intervention. The bombing killed between 489 and 528 civilians and destroyed bridges, industrial plants, public buildings, private businesses, as well as barracks and military installations. The NATO bombing marked the second major combat operation in its history, following the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the first time that NATO had used military force without the approval of the UN Security Council.